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Pediatric Clinical Studies

Could a Clinical Study Help My Child?

Akron Children's offers patients many opportunities to receive the latest medicines, treatments, and procedures through clinical study participation. By facilitating these studies, the Rebecca D. Considine Research Institute contributes to improving healthcare for children of every age.

For the most part, new drugs and treatments are proven safe and effective in adult studies. Yet infants and children are quite different physically and mentally. They are growing and maturing all the time. Therefore, studies may often establish a medicine’s effectiveness, safety, and the best dose to give children of different ages. Other clinical studies seek to assess whether a new treatment has certain advantages over current therapies.

What Happens in a Clinical Study?

Carefully planned and closely monitored, studies run the gamut in terms of what is required from patients or parents. Some are as simple as asking a parent (or child) to complete a survey. Other studies may require diagnostic tests, entering information in a home diary, or periodic visits to the hospital.

Should you find a study that might help your child, learn as much as possible about the study’s purpose and the activities involved. Find out what you will be asked to do. Write down your questions. The doctor leading the study, or a qualified study team member, will explain the study in detail. If you don’t understand, continue to ask for further explanation.

Many parents also seek advice from their child’s pediatrician or family doctor. We encourage you to talk it over at home as well. To enroll your child, he or she will need to meet specific study criteria (age, gender, weight, medical history, etc.).

Clinical Study Benefits

Study participation offers several potential benefits:

You play an active role in your child’s healthcare.

Your child may gain access to new treatments not yet available to the public.

Your child will have expert medical care at a leading healthcare facility.

Everyone in a clinical study contributes in some fashion to medical knowledge that will benefit others.

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About Akron Children's

While we are ranked among the best children's hospitals in the country, it's our compassionate approach to treatment that makes us truly exceptional.
Through a combination of revolutionary treatments and extraordinary patient experiences, our care does more than heal. It brings the entire family
together for emotional support and understanding across multiple locations to reach you in the community where you live.
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